This is civil war. Call it an oborodh, call it an agitation, call it a political programme, but at the end of the day, what we face every day is nothing short of a civil war, brought on by a political deadlock that Sheikh Hasina has refused to resolve. Though the people have been calling out for a resolution, our country’s political leadership has thus far refused to acknowledge the needs and desires of the very people they espouse to govern.
What is happening in Dhaka and across the country is nothing short of a civil conflict, further fueled by an armed police with a mandate to shoot-at-sight. We have already witnessed hundreds of casualties; and the numbers are only increasing. More than 300 people have died in the violence since January this year and more than 4,000 people have been injured during protests in November alone. The streets are strewn with exploding cocktails, arson-attacked buses and worst of all, burned bodies, while our leaders sit comfortably in their homes, continuing to use as pawns in their badly played game of political chess. “Last week, an 11-year-old boy was shot by police with rubber bullets; his head was riddled with 79 rubber pellets, which cannot be removed. In another incident in Chandpur earlier, two young boys were shot and killed by police, as they were chasing mobs”
Though it is the ordinary citizenry who is the backbone of the country, it is their lives and livelihoods that are being squandered away in Sheikh Hasina’s ongoing political stalemate. Despite international and local pressure, Sheikh Hasina and her party have refused to reform their polls-time government system, a decision which has thrown the country into a state of civil war. The current government’s lack of desire to prioritize the needs of the country, its people and its neighboring regions only serves to prove that they do not deserve the privilege of leading Bangladesh. We elected the Awami League for their ardent promise of change; and instead, they have paid us back for believing in them by bringing us from a state of democracy to a state of war.
